Comment by dfc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dfc | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I use rename[1] to clean up problematic filenames. Sadly I have to rename it to `rnm` because there is a namespace conflict with rename.pl in util-linux. On OSX it is as easy as `brew install rename.` I do not know why it has never made it into the debian.

Taking care of a directory full of madness is as easy as `rename -z`:

  -z, --sanitize
      Replaces consecutive blanks, shell meta characters, and control characters 
      in filenames with underscores.

[1] http://plasmasturm.org/code/rename

Somewhat random, but I'm the person who "packaged" Aristotle Pagaltzis's outstanding rename for Homebrew. I'm very glad to hear people other than me are using it too.

Many thanks!!! I cant tell you how often I use that command. Or how many times I had scoured `apt-cache search` results looking for this functionality.

> Sadly I have to rename it to `rnm`

You just like to live on the edge, don't you?

   $ rm foo.{bar,bar.bak}

vs. $ rnm foo.{bar,bar.bak}

In light of the fact that I never run rnm without the `-z` option its not that scary of a ride.

  $ rm -z * 
  rm: invalid option -- 'z'
  Try `rm --help' for more information.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com